Courage
by timelordangel
Summary: Blaine is living in New York, running a small shop with his best friend Sam, and he has a loving boyfriend, but sometimes life has to fork over lemons. Will Blaine find some courage to get through it? Sam and Blaine friendship!


**AN/ The mini-Blaine on my shoulder wouldn't shut up last night, and would you look at the story he told me? I swear- that boy is nuts. Thanks for reading! Reviews always welcome! *hands you a redvine***

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><p>"Hey Sam, can you grab that box for me?" Sam looked over from the check-out desk and grinned at the curly-haired boy trying to reach the top shelf.<p>

"Yeah, sure thing."

"Thanks. I'm about to go home, it's almost ten, can I bring home the inventory list?"

Blaine Anderson had been slaving over that darn inventory list for the past three days from eight in the morning until nine or ten at night. He worked at Music Notes, the small music store and used guitar shop in New York City. After breaking away from Lima, he dreamed of one day owning this shop, right with his best friend Sam.

"Yeah, but we need it by eight tomorrow, so don't forget it. Bye dude!" Sam shouted as he walked into the back.

Blaine grabbed his coat and briefcase from the back and slowly began walking to the back door. He loved the little shop, mix-matched bookshelves held hundreds of music sheets; some crisp and new, and others so old the pages were yellow and worn. The whole place was the size of a garage, with a small room in the back. The air smelled like fresh ink, and several guitars lay on racks against the peeling wallpaper of the back wall. A small bell was tied to the door that never quite seemed to block out the cold of this November.

He pulled his jacket over his head, kicked open the back door, and walked into the cold night with his briefcase around his shoulder.

"God." He mumbled to himself as he climbed in his freezing cab. "It's never this cold in November."

Blaine leaned his head back and shut his eyes, it had been a rough day, and he was starving. Food was bought sparingly, though, and sometimes dinner wasn't as important as a place to live. Staring out the cab window while he headed home in silence, Blaine thought about everything he had been doing, was currently doing, what he would later be doing, and what he should be doing. Nothing seemed to match up right.

The cabbie pulled up to the apartment complex and Blaine stepped out. As he neared the front door, he noticed a large group of beefy men hanging around outside. He tightened his red and white scarf and pulled his black Prada jacket up closer to his neck. Straightening his posture a tad, he walked with his head held high; he thought he could have the guys ignore him as he tried to escape into the side door.

"Hey, bud!" The tallest shouted as he slammed Blaine into the building.

"Yeah, 'sup man?" The other laughed roughly as he punched him in the shoulder.

Blaine quickly yanked the door open and disappeared inside. He felt tears prick his eyes. The stairwell was all concrete, and barely lit. It smelled like cat pee, and Blaine normally tried to dash up the three levels of stairs to his floor in order to avoid it, but right now it seemed like he just wanted to stay there and cry.

He was almost 23, and he just wanted to bawl his eyes out right there, in the middle of a stairwell in a crappy New York apartment late at night in the freezing cold.

He dragged the end of his scarf across his face and began climbing the offensive stairs, barely flinching when the door had a huge spider on it. Pulling it open, he walked into a dimly lit hallway, barely enough light to see the hideous patterns on the walls. He walked to the furthest door and managed to unlock it before pushing it open.

The apartment was freezing. Blaine shuddered when the cold bit his nose and made his hands rub together. He dumped his stuff on the floor and flopped on the couch. He looked up when he heard the bedroom door open.

Blaine buried his head in his hands as the other boy came over and hugged him.

"Blaine, what happened? It's okay, love, you can cry."

"I had such a terrible day, Kurt." Blaine sobbed into Kurt's shoulder.

"Well, It's over now. Do you want some dinner?" Kurt looked into the weeping boy's eyes.

"I don't know if-"

"Blaine, I have ten cans of spam in there, we won't be going hungry anytime soon." Kurt cut him off as he grabbed Blaine's hand.

"Okay, thank you Kurt." But just as Kurt was about to head over to the counter, Blaine wrapped his arms around the taller boy, pinning him to the couch.

Kurt just chuckled softy and nuzzled his head into the other boy's hair, closing his eyes.

* * *

><p>Sam Evans walked around the small shop, humming to himself as he prepared to lock up. He remembered Blaine had taken the inventory sheet and sighed in frustration. Sam walked over the deep brown bookshelf and pulled out a song that made him smile.<p>

Walking over the guitar rack, he pulled out the shiny mahogany one that he had grown attached to. Sitting on one of the random stools, he positioned the guitar and placed the music on a stand.

Soft notes began playing, and Sam hummed softly.

_Say, wasn't that a funny day_

_Gee, you had a funny way_

_A way about you_

_Kind of glow, something new _

_Sure, I'll admit that I'm the same_

_Another sucker for a game_

_Kids like to play_

_And the rules we like to use_

_Don't you want the way I feel_

_Don't you want the way I feel_

_Don't you want the way I feel for you_

_The sun, telling me the night is done_

_Well I refuse to let it stop our fun_

_Close your eyes, We'll make it dark again_

_And a kiss_

_There's a thought so how 'bout this_

_Let's pretend that both our lips are made of candy_

_After all, we need sweets every now and then_

Sam chuckled slightly, remembering the days when Blaine and him wrote this song, perched on the beds in their apartment, before Kurt asked Blaine to move, in while they were in collage together.

_Don't you want the way I feel_

_Don't you want the way I feel_

_Don't you want the way I feel for you_

Then there was the day Sam met Blaine's younger sister, Brielle. They had bonded deeply, and so it hurt Sam the think of the look on her face when he told her Blaine, Kurt, and him were moving to New York, for good, when collage ended. She wanted to come, but fifteen was too young.

_But here we are to strangers,_

_In a very different place_

_Who knows what will happen to us next_

Now, He was twenty three, she must be twenty. Five years passed quickly, he still hadn't forgotten her face.

_Here we are with nothing but this little spark_

_It's too cold outside the lay this fire to rest_

_Go, how so very apropos_

_A goodbye just as soon as I said hello_

_I'm alright, I'll see you later_

He missed her, he knew that. He wasn't sure why he missed that gorgeous face, her shy attitude, or even how she seemed to think about everything. But he knew his missed her, he thought about it every single day it seemed.

_It's true; it's just a fantasy for two_

_But what's the difference _

_If it all could have been true_

_I guess this is better_

Blaine was his best friend, and he was Blaine's best friend. Brielle was Blaine's sister, wasn't there some rule about dating your best friend's sister?

_But don't you want the way I feel_

_Don't you want the way I feel_

_Don't you want the way I feel for you_

_Oh don't you want the way I feel_

_Don't you want the way I feel_

_Don't you want the way I feel for you_

_Don't you want the way_

_I feel for you?_

A single tear fell from his shocking blue eyes. He let his head rest on the instrument as he tried to blink away the following ones. Why, why was he doing this to himself? He didn't know. Maybe this is what they called true love. Blaine sure must have it with Kurt.

Mercedes was still his friend, and they breakup senior year had long been forgotten, but he had never felt this way about her. He ran a hand through his blond hair and gently replaced the guitar.

Finishing up with the cleaning, he couldn't keep his mind off the girl with deep brown eyes and matching hair. She was spunky yet shy, her favorite color was light pink, she loved to swim, she could play the piano but not sing, her smile could stop a herd of people in the dark, she always had her nails painted and once painted both his and Blaine's nails green, she could get lost in her mind, she loved her brother, she wanted to be an author, she always thought Blaine was a better dad than their real dad, and she always saw the best in everyone.

Smiling to himself, he grabbed his keys and stepped into the dark.

"HOLY-" Sam choked as a blast of ice cold wind hit him and make his face tingle. He pulled up the hood on his jacket. Attempting to cover his face, Sam shielded his face with his arm. He waved the other in the air for a cab.

When he stepped out at the apartment complex, it was almost midnight. The streets were crowded as ever though, and all the lights made it seem bright as ever too. He trudged to the outdoor stairs and headed to his room. Feeling the awful wind whipping his jacket and making the skin under it shiver, Sam unlocked the door.

Since he lived alone, the apartment was exactly how he left it. While many people begged to have their own apartments, Sam missed his free-spirited roommate.

He stepped into a steaming hot shower a few minutes later, sighing in relief. With all the work at the shop with Christmas and the winter break coming up, both of them were needed at the shop all day, every day.

Sam cursed when the water skipped from steamy to hypothermia-inducing, and almost fell out of the small tub. He changed quickly as he tried to avoid the cold air seeping through the windows and under the door. When he successfully managed to climb under the covers, he was asleep in a flash.

* * *

><p>Blinding light streamed in through the windows, making the boy groan. He rolled over and tried to shield himself from the offending sun.<p>

"Wake up!" Rachel all-too-happily yipped at her sleeping boyfriend. Finn glared up at her.

"Too early!" Finn mumbled.

"Fine, five more minutes. I'll check the news before we go."

"Go where babe?" Finn said with his eyes closed.

"Finn, remember, the show I told you about?"

"Oh right, you're the only person I thought would get out of Lima, and here you are, managing to find more ways for us to stay." Finn groaned and stuffed his head in the pillow. Rachel smiled and flicked to the news, not hearing a word out of Finn's mouth after, "Oh right"

_**Good morning, the high for today is 55, so don't forget your coats Lima! The low should be around 46, and there is a ten percent chance of light showers. On to you Jen!"**_

_**Well, Jeff, just this month we have had two reports of missing persons. We need to get these children home! The first is a Caucasian Male, 13 years of age with blond hair, named Peter Menders. The second is a Caucasian female, 20 years of age with dark brown hair, named Brielle Anderson. More on that at nine! **_

Rachel went white as a ghost as she flicked off the T.V.

"Finn, Finn honey, wake up, this is serious!" Rachel had panic woven into her voice.

"What is it?" Finn didn't protest when he heard the anxious tone.

"It's Blaine's sister, the Lima news just said they have a reported missing person with her name and description!" It was Finn's turn to go white.

"Oh my God! Is there any chance it isn't her? How-"

"I don't know! They just said it on the news! Call Kurt!" Rachel was yelling.

"Okay, okay," Finn fumbled with his phone.

Ring

Ring

Ring

"Hello?" A sleepy voice answered.

"Kurt?" Finn asked through the line, he couldn't tell if the voice was one of someone who had been sleeping or crying.

"No, it's Bob." Kurt's sleep-fogged head struggled to think of a witty comeback.

"Kurt, is Blaine awake?"

"Um, no, well he is now. Why?" Kurt glanced over at his sleepy boyfriend.

"It's about his sister." Finn wasn't sure why he was afraid to tell them.

"Bre?"

"Yeah, we saw something on the news this morning. Rachel said they have a report that she's gone missing."

Silence, followed by shuffles. Then Blaine's voice.

"What? Are you sure? Oh my God, I need to call my parents!"

"Kurt? Kurt!"

"Finn, I think I'm going to have to go. Thank you for telling us, Blaine's just freaking out a little."

"Okay, bye Kurt. Let me know if anything happens."

"Same for you."

The line went dead. Rachel leaned over on Finn's shoulder.

"Did they sound okay?"

"No." And then a heavy silence filled the room.

* * *

><p>Blaine was frantically pacing the apartment, grabbing random things and chucking them at the wall, while talking to his mom.<p>

"NO! How on Earth could you not call me? I'm her brother! I love her more than either of you two!"

Kurt flinched from where he stood in the doorway.

"Yeah, I loved how you came to EVERY SINGLE ONE of our school performances! Oh, how was the Wizard of Oz? Where Bre was Dorothy? OH THAT'S RIGHT! YOU DIDN'T GO! OR WHAT ABOUT ALL MY FREAKKIN SOLOS?" Blaine screamed into the phone, violently throwing it at the wall when he heard whatever his mom had replied. The device crashed into the wall, the back flying off with the battery, and both parts skidding under the couch. He pulled his hands up behind his head and growled at the floor.

Blaine threw himself at the wall as if it was the only support he had left, and buried his head in his hands. Kurt walked over and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Leave me alone, Kurt." The words came out harsher than Blaine had meant for them too, and Kurt immediately retracted.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." Blaine quickly said when he saw the hurt look on his boyfriend's face.

"No, no it's okay. I'll leave you alone." Kurt's voice was small, his normal confident tone gone.

"Kurt, no.." Blaine's sentence left unfinished as the bathroom door slammed shut.

"Kurt, I'm going out to see Sam. He will want to know about this." No response from the bathroom.

Blaine slowly grabbed his keys and jacket and headed outside into the late morning air. He got a cab and was soon on his way to Sam's apartment.


End file.
